Department for Transport

Dover Port: Public Lavatories

Lord Pendry: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the debate on 26 November (HL Deb, cols 403–23), whether they have any plans to procure portable toilets for use by heavy goods vehicle drivers using the port of Dover after 1 January 2021; and if so, what steps they are taking to ensure that Ministers in any such procurement process declare (1) personal interests, and (2) interests of family members, relevant to such a procurement.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The driver welfare provision within the ports will be provided by the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel under their usual arrangements. The Department for Transport is unable to comment on Port of Dover’s procurement process for welfare facilities.Government Inland Border Facilities for lorry holding areas in Kent at Sevington and Manston will include facilities for HGV drivers, including toilet and hand washing provision.

Dover Port: Public Lavatories

Lord Pendry: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the debate on 26 November (HL Deb, cols 403–23), whether they have made any assessment of the need to provide portable toilets for use by heavy goods vehicle drivers using the port of Dover after 1 January 2021; and if so, how many such toilets they estimate will be required.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The driver welfare provision within the ports will be provided by the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel under their usual arrangements. The Department for Transport is unable to comment on Port of Dover’s procurement process for welfare facilities.Government Inland Border Facilities for lorry holding areas in Kent at Sevington and Manston will include facilities for HGV drivers, including toilet and hand washing provision.

Shipping: Costs

Viscount Waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any additional costs to shipping companies that will be incurred from the end of the transition period for the UK's departure from the EU.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Government recognises the importance of shipping to global trade and to trade between the UK and EU. The Government continues to engage closely with the shipping sector on the range of changes brought by the end of the transition period. Some of these changes will depend not only on our future trading relations with the European Union but also with the rest of the world. Due to this and the fact that shipping often has complex ownership arrangements, we do not have a unified assessment of the additional costs to all shipping companies. We will continue working closely with the sector to assess and advise on these changes.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Post Office

Baroness Hoey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of the services provided by the Post Office; and what plans they have to support its work in the future.

Lord Callanan: Previous analysis, commissioned by BEIS and undertaken by London Economics and YouGov[1], found that users of the Post Office placed a value of between £4.3bn and £9.7bn per annum on the network. The research is attached, but is also available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/566224/beis-16-37-post-office-network-social-value.pdf.More recently, new research by Public First has revealed how much of a vital role Post Offices play in high streets, providing a boost of more than £1 billion for surrounding retailers and businesses. The research is available here: https://postofficeimpact.co.uk/The £227 million funding the Government has provided through the Spending Review extends the network subsidy at £50 million for a further year and provides Post Office with £177 million to invest in the future of the business. [1] The Social Value of the Post Office Network, London Economics/YouGov, 2020Post Office Network Social Value (pdf, 3680.3KB)

Small Businesses: Finance

Lord Willis of Knaresborough: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they provide local authorities with (1) guidance, or (2) obligations, in relation to funding provided by the Small Business Fund; and if so, whether the funding provided by Harrogate Council to the Harrogate Conservative Association is in line with any such guidance or obligations.

Lord Callanan: Local Authorities were provided with initial guidance on 24 March 2020 regarding the eligibility and distribution of the Small Business Grant Fund. Under the Small Business Grant Fund, all business hereditaments which were on 11 March in receipt of either the Small Business Rates Relief or the Rural Rates Relief in the business rates system were eligible for a payment of £10,000. Eligible recipients were entitled to receive one grant per qualifying hereditament. Local Authorities were responsible for determining eligibility for the Small Business Grant Fund in line with the guidance provided to them.

Performing Arts: Intellectual Property

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the UK has a high level of protection for (1) copyright, and (2) other performers’ rights, online.

Lord Callanan: The UK is widely acknowledged as one of the best places in the world in which to protect and enforce copyright and related rights. Now that we have left the EU, we intend to maintain these high standards of protection, and to promote them globally, including through future trade agreements. Our future trade agreements should achieve positive outcomes for owners and users of copyright and related rights, including effective cooperation on tackling online copyright infringement. The Government takes the enforcement of IP rights very seriously, and is taking forward various initiatives including the development of a new enforcement strategy, continued funding for the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), strategic coordination of enforcement activity and continuing support for voluntary initiatives with intermediaries and others in the online world.

Energy Performance Certificates

Lord Foster of Bath: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their target for upgrading domestic properties to Energy Performance Certificate band C by 2030 is 1.5 million homes, as set out in The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, published on 18 November, or all fuel poor homes, as set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, published on 12 October 2017.

Lord Callanan: We remain committed to the aspiration set out in the Clean Growth Strategy for as many homes as possible to be EPC Band C by 2035 where practical, cost-effective and affordable. We are also committed to ensuring that as many fuel poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C, by 2030. There are a number of Government schemes available to support households in improving the energy efficiency of their homes, including the Green Homes Grant and Energy Company Obligation, with some funding specifically targeted towards households in fuel poverty. In the Ten Point Plan, we specify that our green home finance initiatives could help to improve the energy performance of around 2.8 million homes, improving around 1.5 million to EPC C standard by 2030. These figures refer specifically to the proposals laid out in the consultation, ‘Improving home energy performance through lenders’, which is focused on mortgaged homes in England and Wales.

Department of Health and Social Care

Brain Cancer: Children and Young People

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they aretaking to provide additional support to the families of children and young adults with brain tumours.

Lord Bethell: Clinical support is ongoing linked to individual treatment plans and children will be seen regularly by specialists. This is to check their progress and how well they are recovering from treatment. It is also to check that they don’t have any long-term problems from treatment.By 2021, where appropriate every person diagnosed with cancer, including children and young adults, will have access to personalised care, including needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support. This will be delivered in line with the National Health Service Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care. This will empower people and their families to manage their care and the impact of their cancer and maximise the potential of digital and community-based support.

Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions

Lord Balfe: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to increase the capacity of the Department of Health and Social Care to provide answers toQuestions for Written Answer on time.

Lord Bethell: Prior to the pandemic, the Department employed approximately 1,500 people. In the last eight months that has grown to approximately 2,900 staff in the core Department. The Parliamentary Questions team has doubled in size. We have created and put into action an iterative written questions recovery plan, the objectives of which are to increase the number of questions answered on time, to clear the backlog of overdue questions and to ensure high-quality answers.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of children in England who have been diagnosed as having foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Lord Bethell: This information is not held centrally.

Vaccination

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the national vaccine strategy as announced in their consultation Advancing our health: prevention in the 2020s, published on 22 July 2019.

Lord Bethell: The publication of England’s national vaccine strategy has been delayed as a result of our ongoing focus on responding to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. As such, plans for the vaccine strategy will be kept under review. We endeavour to update and refresh the strategy in 2021, to accurately reflect the changing landscape and investment in vaccine development carried out by the COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce.

General Practitioners

Lord Balfe: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 23 November (HL9107), who is responsible for the provision of face to face appointments in each of the seven NHS regions.

Lord Bethell: General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors who are contracted by NHS England and NHS Improvement and/or clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to provide primary medical services. In designing services contractors are required to take into account the reasonable needs of their local population, including the types of appointments that are offered. NHS England and NHS Improvement are responsible for the provision of primary medical services in England. As such, it is for NHS England and NHS Improvement to ensure that patients in all areas have access to GP services.On 14 September, NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to GPs and their commissioners reiterating the importance of providing face to face appointments for those who need them and shared a communications toolkit designed to support clear communication with patients about how they can access the right type of appointment.Local commissioners, NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams or CCGs with delegated responsibility, are responsible for ensuring general practice providers meet their responsibilities under their contracts.

Contact Tracing: Computer Software

Lord Macpherson of Earl's Court: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much (1) has been spent to date, and (2)they estimate will be spent this financial year,on the NHS Testand Trace service.

Lord Bethell: The spend across Test and Trace for the year to September is £2.7 billion. The Government's winter plan announced an additional £7 billion of funding which will allow NHS Test and Trace to increase testing and continue to improve contact tracing, taking the overall budget for Test and Trace this financial year to £22 billion.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate of the proportion of COVID-19 cases that are asymptomatic they applied to the forecasting models that were used to inform their decision to place England under national restrictions undtil 2 December; and what was the evidence base used for this estimate.

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate of the percentage of COVID-19 cases that lead to hospital admissions was applied to the forecast modelling used to inform their decision to place England under national restrictions until 2 December; and what was the evidence base used for this estimate.

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate of the percentage of COVID-19 cases that require mechanical ventilation was applied to the forecast modelling used to inform their decision to place England under national restrictions until 2 December; and what was the evidence base used for this estimate.

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate of the percentage of COVID-19 fatalities they applied to the forecasting models that were used to inform the decision to place England under further national restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic; and what was the evidence base used for this estimate.

Lord Bethell: The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergency’s (SAGE) subgroup, Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling, Operational, do not have a single estimate for asymptomatic case proportions, infection hospitalisation rates, case hospitalisation rates, infection fatality rates, or case fatality rates. Individual modelling groups use their own estimates of these metrics, which are based on a wide range of data sources, including testing data, hospital admission, intensive care unit admissions, and deaths. Their models are regularly updated to fit to the observed transmission of the disease and further details are publicly available.The Office for National Statistics COVID-19 Infection Study has estimated that approximately 55% of those individuals who test positive do not record evidence of symptoms at or around the time of the test. This does not mean these individuals will not go on to develop symptoms or had symptoms previously.Other SAGE evidence has shown that there is wide variation in the estimated proportion of infections that are truly asymptomatic across different studies with the rapid review providing a pooled estimate, based on 22 studies, of 28% but with very wide confidence intervals.NHS England use data from their daily COVID-19 situation report collection from individual hospital trusts to estimate current average length of stay and the proportion who require mechanical ventilation. In the run up to the national restrictions this gave an average length of stay of 7.7 days, of which 5.5% of those would be with mechanical ventilation.The decision to re-introduce greater restrictions from 5 November until 2 December 2020 was based on a wide range of data, not just modelling estimates. These included analysis from the National Health Service on hospital capacity, the rapidly rising hospital admissions, and deaths, and the similar second waves seen across Europe.SAGE papers from its meetings are published in an online only format on GOV.UK.

Blood and Organs: Donors

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress the Community Investment Scheme run by NHS Blood and Transplant is making in engaging all communities to address health inequalities related to blood and organ donation.

Lord Bethell: The Community Investment Scheme was launched in September 2018 and is run by NHS Blood and Transplant on behalf of the Government. Currently, fifty organisations have been funded to address concerns, barriers and misconceptions about organ donation, with a total investment of £345,000. The funded projects cover Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Hindu and Jain faith organisations and within Indian, South Asian, Chinese, African and Caribbean communities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on face-to-face contact, many organisations are now delivering educational material online.An attitudinal survey was carried out twelve months after the launch of the scheme, which showed increasing support for organ donation including in black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. The scheme for 2020/21 has been extended to fund projects to increase participation and engagement in blood donation as well as organ donation.

Coronavirus: Students

Baroness Gardner of Parkes: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to pre-book COVID-19 tests for all university students to take before they return to university after the Christmas break.

Lord Bethell: The Government has established a large number of asymptomatic test sites across higher education institutions. We are working to make the return to higher education as safe as possible. All students will have the opportunity to be tested on their return to university at the start of the spring term. The Government has provided guidance for universities to implement a staggered return of students over five weeks to minimise the transmission risk from the mass movement of students. Further guidance will be provided in due course, considering future developments and the relevant scientific advice.

Hyperactivity: Health Services

Lord Hay of Ballyore: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorderthey have supported in2020.

Lord Bethell: The data requested is not held centrally.

Care Homes: Insurance

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in ensuring that care homes are granted insurance indemnity under the same terms as provided for the NHS under the Coronavirus Act 2020.

Lord Bethell: We recognise that the adult social care insurance market is changing in response to the pandemic. We are working closely across Government, with care providers and insurance representatives to understand the breadth and severity of the issues, and whether there is any action the Government should take to support the sector.

Coronavirus: Screening

Lord Trees: To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of those testing positive for COVID-19 as a result of a polymerase chain reaction test, and subsequently included in the national statistics, (1) display symptoms of the virus at the time of the test, and (2) subsequently develop such symptoms.

Lord Bethell: We do not publish data in the format requested.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs

Lord Field of Birkenhead: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatestimate they have made of the numbers of children registered as having special educational needs in each year since that term was first used to the most recent date for which such data are available; and what plans they have to publishthose data in tabular form.

Baroness Berridge: The special educational needs (SEN) system was substantially reformed in 2014. One of the features of this was that there was a wider age range than before, meaning higher SEN numbers amongst children. Children can either receive support in schools (known as SEN support) or those with more complex needs are issued with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan.The department collects and publishes data on the numbers of pupils with SEN support and of children and young people aged 0-25 with EHC plans from 2015 (and the forerunner to EHC plans, constituting statements of SEN, which were phased out between 2015 and 2018).Data shows that in the academic year 2015/16, 991,981 pupils were on SEN Support; in the academic year 2019/20 this was 1,079,000, and in 2015, 240,183 children and young people aged 0-25 had EHC plans (combined with statements); in 2020, there were 390,109 EHC plans.Further data on pupils in schools with SEN (EHC plans and SEN support) can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.Data on all children and young people aged 0-25 with an EHC plan can be found at https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.The releases contain tables with key figures, and a table tool allowing users to create their own tables by selecting options from the filters available. Information on pupils in schools with SEN is expected to be updated in July 2021 with data for the 2020/21 academic year, and information on EHC plans in May 2021.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Nagorno Karabakh: Refugees

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide emergency aid for refugees in (1) Armenia, and (2) the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Baroness Sugg: On 30 October the Foreign Secretary announced £1 million in funding to the ICRC to support their humanitarian efforts in the region. We are working with international partners and NGOs to understand needs in the region and what further support we can provide, and will keep the situation under review.

Turkey: Aviation

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Turkey about the opening of Turkish airspace for flights to (1) Armenia, and (2) Georgia.

Baroness Sugg: The UK Government has not made representations to the Government of Turkey regarding the opening of Turkish airspace for flights to Armenia and Georgia.

Department for Work and Pensions

Older People: Public Appointments

Baroness Gale: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to appoint a commissioner for older people in England.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: There are no plans to appoint a Commissioner for older people in England.

Universal Credit

Baroness Altmann: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 16 October (HL8845), what adjustments are made to ensure fairness of treatment between those pension contributions made under net pay arrangements and relief at source pension contributions when calculating the earnings figure used for Universal Credit entitlement.

Baroness Stedman-Scott: It remains the policy, when assessing entitlement to Universal Credit, that all contributions to personal and occupational pension schemes are deducted from the calculation of earnings in the same way as any National Insurance or income tax paid in the assessment period. This ensures equity of treatment of pension contributions in the calculation of Universal Credit.

Cabinet Office

Court of Justice of the European Union: Northern Ireland

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union will be in relation to Northern Ireland from 1 January 2021.

Lord True: The rules that apply to businesses and citizens in Northern Ireland derive from UK law, including rules given effect by the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The rules on how to interpret rules given effect by retained EU law, which the courts must follow, are set out in section 6 of the EU Withdrawal Act. Section 6 of the 2018 Act also sets out the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Coronavirus: Christmas

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they received advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies about reducing the restrictions in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic over the Christmas period; and if so, what plans they have to publish that advice.

Lord True: The government receives regular advice from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, including on the Christmas period. All the advice received on this matter has been published on Gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/scientific-advisory-group-for-emergencies.

Treasury

UK Trade with EU: Customs

Baroness Coussins: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to make all of the customs declarations paperwork required by lorry drivers entering the UK from the EU from 1 January 2021 available in languages other than English, including online forms; and if so, in which languages such paperwork will be available.

Lord Agnew of Oulton: HMRC do not make official paperwork available in other languages, except Welsh. The Department for Transport document entitled “Transporting goods between Great Britain and the EU from 1 January 2021: guidance for hauliers and commercial drivers” sets out all the requirements and is available in other languages covering the countries where most drivers are from (English; Bulgarian; Czech; Welsh; German; Spanish; French; Hungarian; Lithuanian; Dutch; Polish; Russian; Turkish and Romanian).

Holyhead Port: Large Goods Vehicles

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what space will be available for truck drivers arriving at the Port of Holyhead from Ireland to complete documentation papers from 1 January 2021.

Lord Agnew of Oulton: The small facility at Roadking in Holyhead, which was prepared last year, will remain for drivers seeking to complete their ATA Carnet paperwork. This will require traders to book in advance with Border Force who will attend to endorse the Carnets. HMRC will be engaging with Stena and Border Force to explore whether there is any capacity for the port to accommodate other checks.

Port of Holyhead: Facilities

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional (1) rest, and (2) refreshment, facilities will be available to arrivals at the Port of Holyhead from 1 January 2021.

Lord Agnew of Oulton: Traffic management and rest areas are devolved to Welsh ministers but HM Government through HMRC and DfT are developing potential solutions.

Hospitality Industry: Coronavirus

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the business rate holiday for (1) hospitality businesses, and (2) their suppliers, as such businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lord Agnew of Oulton: The Government has taken the unprecedented step of providing over £10 billion in business rates relief this year for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties. As announced at the Spending Review, to support businesses next year the Government will freeze the multiplier and will announce any decisions on future rate reliefs in the New Year.

Hospitality Industry: Coronavirus

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the VAT deferral scheme to support the hospitality sector as that sector recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lord Agnew of Oulton: The VAT payments deferral scheme ended on 30 June 2020, as planned. As part of the Winter Economy Plan, the Government announced further support for those with deferred VAT, allowing them to spread what they owe over smaller monthly payments. More information on the VAT deferral new payment scheme is available on GOV.UK, as is more information on other support for businesses.

Low Incomes

Baroness Altmann: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many employees earned below £12,500 in each region of England in the most recent year that statistics are available.

Baroness Altmann: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many workers earned below the personal income tax threshold in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales, and (4) Northern Ireland, for the tax year 2018/19.

Lord Agnew of Oulton: The table below sets out the number of paid employees residing in English regions who were paid below £12,500 from April 2019 to March 2020, from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Real Time Information (RTI) data. RegionEmployeesNorth East423,000North West1,292,000Yorkshire and the Humber959,000East Midlands881,000West Midlands1,050,000East1,128,000London1,777,000South East1,639,000South West1,038,000 The table below sets out the number of paid employees in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from April 2018 to March 2019 who were paid below £11,850, from HMRC’s PAYE RTI data. CountryEmployeesEngland9,900,000Scotland893,000Wales503,000Northern Ireland301,000 Please note: (1) These figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand employees. (2) These figures are as accurate as reported through PAYE RTI. However, PAYE schemes not paying any of their employees above the NICs threshold are not obliged to report employees' earnings through RTI. Additionally, PAYE RTI does not include income from self-employment, or any other source of income. Therefore, some employees may be excluded from these estimates and other employees may be included but have total income from all sources above the personal allowance.